Line-guide for copy-holders.



J. .l. SNYDER.

LINE GUIDE FOR COPY HOLDERS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.23, 1915.

1 1 62, 3 1 2 Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OI-IN J. SNYDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LINE-GUIDE FOR COPY-HOLDERS.

Application filed August 23, 1915.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, JOHN J. SNYDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Line-Guides for Copy-Holders, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an improved line guide for copy holders such as are generally used by stenographers for holding the note book or copy to be transcribed.

The invention has for its primary object to provide a device of the above character which may be readily applied to or removed from the copy holder and embodies a movable guide arm, together with simple and effective actuating means therefor, whereby the arm may be moved over the copy to successively expose to view the lines of writing thereon. I

It is another and more particular object of the invention to provide in a device of the above character, a post or bar removably mounted upon the copy holder, a guide arm longitudinally movable upon said bar, and means frictionally co-acting with the bar to retain the arm in an adjusted position, and manually operable means including a flexible element connected to the friction creating means, whereby the same, together with the guide arm, may be positively moved upon the rod.

The invention has for a further general object to provide a line guide for copy holders which is exceedingly simple in its construction, is not liable to get out of order, and can be inexpensively manufactured and sold as an adjunct to the copy holder.

With the above and other objects in view,

my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a copy holder provided with my improved line guide attachment; Fig. 2-is a horizon'talsection; Fig. 3 83 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail plan view illustrating the mounting of the drum on which the tape is wound; and Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the guide arm.

Specification of Letters Patent.

is a section taken on the line Patented Nov. 30, 1915. 7

Serial No. 46,918.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 5 designates the supporting plate for the stenographers note book or other copy, which is adapted to be mounted and secured in any ordinary or well known manner in a suitable base 6, said plate being disposed in an inclined vertical position, as shown. The lower end of this supporting plate 5 is provided with a forwardly projecting ledge or flange 7 upon which the lower edge of the note book or copy'sheets is adapted to rest. Upon the upper end of the plate 5, the clamping rod,'indicated at 8, is mounted in any preferred manner so that the note book or copy sheets may be readily engaged between the same and the face of the plate As this clamping rod is commonly employed upon various types of copy holders now in general use and the same forms no part of the present invention, it will not be further described in detail.

To the upper edge of the supporting plate 5 andadjacent to one of the side edges thereof, a forwardly projecting bracket plate 9 is fixed, having a rectangular opening formed therein to receive the upper end of a square or rectangular rod 10. The flange orledge 7 on the plate 5 is provided with a similar rectangular opening to receive the lower end of the rod 10. Upon this lower end of the rod and normally resting upon the flange 7, the U-shaped bearing plate 11 has its intermediate portion securely iixed in any suitable manner. The. parallel arms of this hearing clip project forwardly and, in the same, a drum 12 is rotatably mounted, the particular purpose of which will be hereinafter more fully referred to.

Upon the rod 10, a rectangular sleeve 13 is loosely engagedfor longitudinal movement. This sleeve carries the forwardly projecting arm 14, the longitudinal edges of which are provided with inwardly turned flanges 15 which serve as guides and supports for the angular end 17 of the guide arm 16. At the juncture of the angular end 17with the body of the arm, the upper and lower'edges of the'guid'e arm are notched or recessed, as at 18, so as to permit of the easy and quick insertion of the guide arm upon the arm 14' of the sleeve 13 or its removal therefrom. The sleeve 13 is of appreciably greater dimensions than the rod 10 and, in order to hold the sleeve against casual longitudinal sliding movement upon the rod, I provide a flat leaf spring 19, the central portion of which is longitudinally curved and the ends thereof angularly offset or bent, as at 20, to hear at their extremities against the outermost face of the rectangular rod 10. The lower extremity of this leaf spring 'is returned upon itself to provide an open hook or loop 21, the function of which will he presently stated.

A tape or other flexible element 22 has one of its ends secured to the drum 12, and to the other end of this tape an elongated wire loop 23 is attached by means of a metal clip or other suitable fastener, indicated at 24:. This closed loop 23 is adapted to be engaged with the hook terminal 21 formed upon the lower end of the leaf spring 19.

Upon one end of the drum 12, a Washer plate 25 is loosely engaged, and between this plate and one of the arms of the bearing member 11, the coil spring" 26 is engaged upon said drum. A pin 27 is in serted through tl e end of the drum and admits of the outward movement of the washer plate thereon. The spring 26 actS as a friction brake to prevent casual rotation of the drum. A second pin 28 is also transversely disposed through an opening in the drum and is held in frictional contact with the other of the arms of the bearing 11 by means of the spring 26. The drum is provided with a suitable hand wheel 29 on one end, whereby said drum may be conveniently turned or rotated to wind the tape 22 thereon.

Upon reference to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the manner of using my improved line guide device will be clearly and fully understood. The note book or copy sheets is first arranged upon the face of the plate 5 with the spring-held arm 8 engaged upon the same and said book or copy sheets extending beneath the guide arm 16. This arm is moved by forcing the sleeve 13 upwardly upon the rod 10 until the upper edge of the guide arm is immediately below the first line of written matter upon the copy sheets. After the operator has transcribed the first line, the wheel 29 is engaged with the finger and the drum 12 rotated sufficiently to wind the tape 22 thereon and pull the guide arm downwardly against the action of the friction inducing leaf spring 19 until the next line of written matter is exposed to view. In this manner, the transcription of the note proceeds, and when the bottom of the sheet is reached, the said sheet is turned or removed from the supporting plate 5 and the outwardly projecting arm 14 on the sleeve 13 grasped and said sleeve, together with the guide arm 16, forced upwardly upon the rod 10, the tape 22 being unwound from the drum 12. v

The rod 10 is provided adjacent its upper end with a transverse opening, through which a pin, indicated at 30, is adapted to be inserted. This pin, when the device is in place upon the copy holder, is disposed immediately beneath the bracket plate 9 and prevents a longitudinal shifting movement of the rod 10 on the supporting plate. The attachment may be readily removed from the copy holder by simply removing this pin 30 and then shifting the rod 10 upwardly through the plate 9 to a sufficient extent to disengage the lower end of said rod from the opening in the ledge or flange 7 on the supporting plate. The upper end of the rod may then be removed from the opening in the bracket plate 9 and the entire attachment thus quickly removed from the copy holder.

Fromthe foregoing, it will be seen that I have produced an exceedingly simple, efficient and serviceable line guide attachment for copy holders and one which may be readily operated without loss of time. When the operator is momentarily called away from the work in hand, the horizontally extending arm 16 will indicate the proper point of commencement when the work is resumed, so that loss of time in re-reading the notes is obviated. Such a device will also obviously prevent numerous errors in transcribing the copy, or re -writing the same by the skipping of a line. The device is not attached to the typewriter and is, therefore not subject tovibration in the operation of the machine, so that there will be no strain upon the eyes of the operator. Thus, a material increase in efficiency of the operator and a considerable saving in the time necessary to perform any given piece of work, will be realized by means of the pres ent invention. The several parts of the device being exceedingly simple in form and construction, may be readily replaced when necessary at insignificant expense. The device will, however, if given the ordinary care, satisfactorily perform its functions in definitely.

lVhile I have shown and described the preferred construction and arrangement of the several features of the device, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of considerable modification therein and I, therefore, reserve the privilege of adopting all such legitimate changes as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a copy holder including a support, of a rod mounted upon said support, a rectangular sleeve surrounding the rod and loosely movable thereon, a guide arm carried'by said sleeve, yieldable means interposed between one wall of the sleeve and said rod and frictionally co-actsupport in which the ends of said rod are adapted to be removably engaged, a guide arm projecting from the support at right angles to the rod, means for holding said guide arm in an adjusted position and against casual longitudinal movement with respect to the rod, and operating means carried by said rod and connected to said last named means to positively move said guide arm with relation to the rod.

3. The combination with a copy holder including a support, of a rod removably mounted upon said support, a sleeve loosely engaged upon said rod, means co-acting with the rod and sleeve to normally hold the latter against casual shifting movement on the rod, a guide arm having an angular end portion, said sleeve being provided with means to removably receive the angular end or" the arm, and means carried by said rod for positively moving the sleeve and the arm in one direction upon said rod.

4;. The combination with a copy holder including a support,'of a rectangular rod removably mounted upon said support, a sleeve loosely engaged upon said rod, a leaf spring interposed between one wall of the sleeve and the rod and frictionally co-acting therewith to hold the sleeve against casual shifting movement on the rod, a guide arm, said sleeve being provided with means .to detachably receive the guide arm, and means carried by the rod connected to said spring for positively moving the sleeve and the extending through the sleeve and friction ally co-acting with the rod to normally hold the sleeve against casual movement with respect to the rod, a guide arm, said sleeve being provided with means, to detachably receive one end of the guide arm, and a flexible element connected to the means extending through said sleeve to positively move the sleeve and guide arm in one direction upon said rod.

6. The combination with a copy holder including a support, of a rectangular rod removably mounted upon said support, a sleeve loosely engaged upon said rod, a leaf spring extending through said sleeve and frictionally co-actingwith said rod and the sleeve to normally hold the latter against shifting movement upon the rod, a guide arm having an angularlydisposed end portion, said sleeve being provided with means to removably receive the angular end of the arm, a drum carried by said rectangular rod, and a flexible element adapted to be wound upon said drum and connected to one end of said leaf spring to positively move the sleeve and the guide arm in one direction upon said rod.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN J. SNYDER.

Witnesses:

LLOYD G. LYNN, WM. R. GILoHRIsT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). G. 

